When should you buy property?

If you’re in Sydney, you might have heard that if you had bought property 10-15 years ago just before the Sydney 2000 Olympics and before the property boom that followed, you’d be enjoying some significant capital gains in your investment. Also a few years ago, the changes to the First Home Owners Grant also created a little ‘buying fever’ resulting in a little boom – especially around the lower end of the market. But were these ‘good times’ to buy property?

Some investors try to read the market and naturally look to buy when the price is low and sell when the price is high. That’s a logical way to make a profit. If you were able to gaze into your crystal ball and pick the lowest point as well as the highest point, then you’d be maximising your possible return from your property transactions – that’s simple, yet effective mathematics.

I appreciate that commercial property may be a little risky at the moment, but have you seen some of the new residential suburbs lately? Maybe only 5 years ago, some of these suburbs were just farmland – and now they’re a bustling suburbia, and the farmland beyond them are prime for development. The Australian population is continuing to grow whether naturally or by migration (people want to come to this country) and they all have to live somewhere, right?

In Australia, I think it’s safe to say that there’s a common desire to own your own home (and I’m told it’s different in other countries especially some parts of Europe which have a renting culture). The government supports that with its policies like the first home owner benefits, and the banks also support this through its lending products for home loans. Of course this may eventually change over time due to the increasing challenge of housing affordability, but at least for now there’s always someone somewhere buying property regardless of whether you are or not.

Of course, I don’t say that you should because someone else is, but if you’re asking me whether it’s too late to buy or whether you’ve missed the market, my simple answer is ‘No. Don’t stress or over think whether you should or you shouldn’t. If you want to buy and you can afford to buy, then buy’.

Anyway, I don’t proclaim to be a property investment advisor or a prophet of profit – but there is a saying, “When’s the best time to buy property? 10 years ago. When’s the next best time to buy property? Today!”

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